


The Chauffeur

by bunnystealsyourcarrots



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: A little middle of the day hook up, AU, Alternate Universe, F/M, damn near fluff, song writer Rey, teaching isn't always in the classroom, there will be smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-10-09 12:42:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10412376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnystealsyourcarrots/pseuds/bunnystealsyourcarrots
Summary: Some southern girls require a guided tour of the West Coast to take in the sights, but some just need the back of the limousine for a good time.A Reylo AU mini-fic





	1. Chapter 1

Tapping a french tipped nail against the car window, the conservatively priggish woman pointed out the curb. Thanks to the steady flow of traffic there wasn’t much time to slow, but the chauffeur slid the limousine over expertly without so much as shaking one of his client’s overly hair sprayed locks. Setting the car in park, he earned his keep for at least another hour if not an outward smile.

 

“Window, please,” the woman in the back requested. The second the cool autumn breeze hit her rouged cheeks, she snapped her fingers towards the girl on the sidewalk. Once then twice the woman beckoned with no patience in sight before singing out in a cloying voice better suited to dealing with a four-year-old than her nineteen-year-old daughter, 

 

“Rey dear, please get in quickly. We haven’t all day for your dilly-dallying.” 

 

Clenching her fists at her side, the slender girl in the slouchy long gray sweater slowly turned around. Before she faced her mother, Rey schooled her snarl into something closer to a pucker. However, you could still see the aggravated wheels turning in her head for a few seconds longer before she could manage somewhat civilly, 

 

“Yes, Mimi.”

 

Shifting her bag and yoga mat to the opposite shoulder, the girl hesitantly reached for the door. Her slim fingers wrapped around the handle to open it before her mother let off a tense laugh. “Darling, what are you doing? You can’t honestly expect me to scoot over. I’m wearing  _ Chanel _ honey.”

 

Releasing a loud huff, the girl then stomped around the back of the limo. For the briefest beat, she considered getting it over with and continuing into traffic. Sure, it would suck getting struck by a vehicle, but that didn’t seem half as upsetting as enduring another maternal burn before she'd had coffee. Raking a hand through her hair, Rey considered her options longer than she should have before ultimately grimacing while reluctantly choosing life versus ending life as a road stain. 

 

Whipping the door open, the girl threw in her bag before her. Sliding in after her stuff, she huffed again while entering the car. After years of living under her mother’s well-manicured thumb, Rey was more than aware that each noise ticked off her mother. Young ladies were meant to be seen and not heard, and just to dig in her annoyance a little further, Rey plastered on a fake smile when the yoga mat bounced against her mother’s knee.  Yes, petty went both ways that day.

 

“Sorry.”

 

The corner of her mother’s eye twitched, but not a word passed before the door shut.

 

“Driver, please continue onto the tailor at Fairfax and seventh to pick up my husband.”

 

Leaning her head against the window, the girl named Rey noticed as they smoothly drove on how much the congested Los Angeles streets outside were bustling with early morning life. Everybody walked with a purpose, a west coast swing to their hips. 

 

_ I bet they’re all high on B12 butt shots. _

 

“What are you pleased about, darling?”

 

“Nothing,” Rey answered, stifling a smile. “Just debating about what I’m going to do today.”

 

In the middle of reapplying lipstick, her mother frowned. “I thought you were going to spend the day at the hotel. We bought you that spa package since your daddy and I will be in workshops all day.”

  
  


“But I can use the perks anytime before we leave in two days. I mean, surely it must have occurred to you that I might not want to be cooped up on my first morning in LA.”

 

Dropping her voice so that man up front wouldn’t pick it up, Rey’s mother chided, “Wasn’t going to that yoga class enough of an excursion for you? Do you always have to be so selfish? Honey, you know we have that big dinner tonight, and the last thing we need is you all freckled up if you forget about sunblock.”

 

“Oh no, an extra freckle,” Rey cried out in her thickest Southern twang, clutching her chest. “Nobody will marry me now!”

 

“Hush.”

 

Gripping the leather wheel, the driver purposefully paid no attention to the bickering behind him. As the women went back and forth riling each other up, the limousine waited in the middle of a busy intersection. An endless stream of cars passed by on the other side as the signal blinked to go left, and once Rey realized what was happening, she quieted. Her eyebrows arched up higher and higher towards her hairline as the light went from green to yellow to red, and the spa perk fight flew right onto the back burner as life-flashing-before-her-eyes panic took over until they’d safely driven through. Somehow the crisis was miraculously averted without so much as a honk from anyone else as Rey gripped the seat in front of her.

 

“What in the hell?”

 

“Language!” Rey’s mother scolded.

 

“Is - w-was that normal?” Rey sputtered, gaze jerking up to meet the driver's in the rearview mirror.

 

He nodded. “For about a quarter of the lights here, you’d never be able to take a left if you followed the rules. There’s too many of us fighting to get someplace important. Heck, even the cops do it to keep traffic flowing. But don’t worry, everybody waits in the middle of the intersection. It's safe, and as long as you’re out before it’s red, you won’t get honked out when you go after the light changes,” the driver’s syrupy drawl explained with an amused smile tacked at the end. “Welcome to LA.”

 

“Well isn’t that just fascinating,” Rey’s mother cooed, her saccharine tone making her daughter's teeth ache. “Ah! There’s your father now.”

 

The car immediately pulled over and seconds later Rey’s father shoved into the back. His sturdy former football player frame passed by his family entirely before weakly uttering his hellos as he sunk into one of the seats on the side of the limo. Pushing his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose, he returned to obsessively scrolling through his phone. Mouthing along to his first speech planned for the West Coast Southern Baptist Summit while absently rearranging his tie knot.

 

“Picked up the bagels already?” he murmured. 

 

“Not with your cholesterol, sugar,” Rey’s mom tutted.”We might be in a different state Frederick, but I never reckoned you were out of your mind.”

 

Twenty minutes later when they pulled up in front of the downtown convention center, the doors swung open to let in all that California sunshine scent with a dash of putrid urine smell. According to Rey’s phone, they’d arrived with twenty minutes to spare, and yet her father smashed his daughter’s toes in his hurry to get out. Goodbyes forgot in his rush to share his importance with others as Rey’s mother rolled her eyes.

 

“Impossible man.”

 

Slipping her purse higher up her coral-colored blazer, her mother pinned her daughter with a warning glare before getting out. “Remember to have the driver drop you off at Perch at seven thirty on the dot. We’re meeting the Mitchells at forty-five after and I want to make sure we look presentable and not sweaty and flustered.”

 

“Fine, Mimi.”

 

When the door slammed closed, Rey let everything bottled up all out with a heavy sigh. Staring down at her fingers, the girl praised herself for the saint-like patience it took to avoid flicking off the middle one as the good Southern lady elegantly glided away. Yet again, Rey remained more than peeved at the woman who rocked auburn hair styled so high that it likely tickled God’s toes -her holier than thou perfection wielded as an intimidating weapon towards any foolish enough to talk down to her.

 

Shaking her head, Rey smiled. Instead of feeling humored, she was actually quite incredulous that all the stress she’d worked hard to stretch out in class earlier had already returned to tense her shoulders. Resting her head back against the leather seats, the exhausted girl inhaled a calming breath. Her dimmed hazel eyes just barely closing until the driver’s voice interrupted her blissed out numbness.

 

“Where to?”

 

“Anywhere but the hotel,” Rey grumbled.

 

“Yes, ma’am.”

 

Pulling out a worn notebook from her purse, Rey jotted down the beginnings of a song. For some reason, the notes fell down faster than she could over think. Something about the clear skies plus the steady rock of the car spilled a melody out of her in a rushing creative stream. Rey couldn't write down the notes fast enough, but the matching words remained obnoxiously out of reach: nothing fitting, nothing poignant coming to mind as her pen tapped against her lips.

 

“Do you like the beach?” 

 

“Hmm?” Rey answered, eyes raising up to meet the man up front’s inquisitive stare. “Um, not usually, but I’ve only actually been to Gulf Coast beaches where even in the sand your toes get inky from oil.”

 

“Oh, see we only keep our skies murky here.”

 

Rey smirked. “Well, that’s new.”

 

“We try to stay cutting edge,” The chauffeur teased right back, but when their eyes met again in the mirror Rey was blown away by how thick his eyebrows were. The jet black dashes stood out so starkly against his ivory skin, and Rey's pen fell from her hand.

 

“Ya’ll succeed,” Rey breathlessly replied.

 

Thirty minutes later, the girl stepped one ballerina flat outside the door. Squinting miserably up towards the light, Rey almost retreated again, but little by little a big beaming smile hijacked her expression. Nothing but unfamiliar optimism filling her up as she breathed in that hint of salty fish air that could only mean a beach was near.

 

After confirming that her phone was in her purse, Rey considered herself good to go. Picking up one of the free waters in the back, she was officially ready to carpe the heck out of the diem until it hit her that she didn’t have the foggiest clue what to do. She wasn’t wearing a swimsuit, she didn’t have a towel, and armed with only her notebook in hand it didn’t seem likely that she’d take up surfing. Annoyance at her waste of a trip curved Rey’s lips downwards before her tension remarkably eased. All her defeating thoughts instantly fading away as she stood there thoroughly distracted by her ridiculously tall driver. 

 

_ Good Lord, Hallelujah _ .

 

Even when slouching down to retrieve a pack of cigarettes from the front, the driver towered over her. Thanks to her backseat view, Rey had missed that he was brawny, but she certainly took notice of it then. During her shameless double take, her mouth parted in awe over a man who didn't look anything like their normal chauffeur even though he was dressed head to toe in a customary fitted black suit with a cap resting on top of his black shaggy hair. There wasn’t anything ancient or austere about him. At the very least, the handsome man was also seven years older than she, but Rey found his appearance more than appealing.

 

There was something almost familiar about him, but as sure as Rey knew the sky was blue, she knew that they’d never met before. There was no forgetting that many inches of man - no ignoring someone who even when dressed in modern clothes had features that wouldn’t have looked entirely out of place in a snapshot from the Civil War. 

 

_ That must be it. _

 

_ He’s just timeless. _

 

Only a few seconds passed by as Rey stealthily gawked, but that was more than enough time to send her skin tingling with awareness. There was nothing phony or put upon hipster about the stranger. Without even trying, he effortlessly sported the right kind of modern scruffy charm that would have made him look right at home curled up with a good book at a coffee shop, but when he straightened up again his thick muscles strained against his suit. Every motion hinted at power barely contained behind the sway of his tie - he was a force of nature- and Rey felt bowled over by all his striking contradictions. This perfect stranger was all porcelain skin, high cheekbones. Any one of his sharp features would have seemed too large on anybody else when paired with lips so impossibly pink obscene and lush, and yet she couldn’t imagine a person more impractically perfect if she tried.

 

_ Too bad that he’s only hanging out with me because he’s paid to. _

 

When the object of Rey's affection finally caught her staring, that fetching mouth of his twitched up into a slow smile.

 

“Hi.”

 

“Um,” Rey stammered, flashing a guilty wince. Mortified beyond all sense, but valiantly attempting to compose herself into a far less creepster creature. Barely a wobble in her voice when she asked, “So where do you suggest I go?”

 

Leaning his hip against the car, the chauffeur pointed. “Walking down one block, you’ll hit the main drag smack dab in Venice beach. Continue on sixty steps further past that, and you’ll see the skate park. Hang out there for a bit, and then go to the freak show funhouse on the boardwalk before ten more steps to the right, you’ll hit up my favorite sandwich shop.”

 

“And why would I go to your favorite sandwich shop?”

 

“Because they have the best tiny donuts in all of California. They’re freshly made warm perfection dusted in cinnamon and sugar, and they are so good that they’d make your poor Mimi consider going out of her mind for carbs.”

 

Letting out a rare barking laugh, Rey made up her mind.

 

“Tiny donuts it is.”

____________________________

**11:30pm**

 

An hour later, Rey ran her hands along a row of hanging succulents. Greens to gray to purple, the floral strands trailing off a fence gave the funky beach bungalow an impossibly sweet effect. The whole look was shabby chic - with far more on the shabby side - and yet it all had to be worth well over a couple million.

 

_ Imagine paying so much money to look like you’re bohemian and broke. _

 

_ People here are crazy. _

 

Popping another tasty bite into her mouth, Rey groaned, “Fuck, these are good.”

 

_ Ok, I take it back. Paying millions is a steal to be close to these donuts. _

 

Smearing off her mouth, Rey chuckled while continuing on her way back to the man who’d convinced her to stroll eclectic Venice by herself. She was a picture of messy happiness with her luminous eyes and a mouth smudged with sugar that she also somehow got on her phone when she took another picture. Shooting photos of herself wasn't Rey's usual style, but she wanted to hold onto this version of herself for as long as possible.

 

Golden honey sunshine warmed her hair with every step, and Rey was stubbornly determined to capture some of it for later.

 

Under her breath, Rey snickered again while recalling the underwhelming two-headed turtles at the freak show. The attractions were far more absurd than she’d hoped, but she couldn’t stop grinning when she remembered the little punks pulling off insane skateboarding tricks at the skate park. Everybody at the beach had a brash style with endless free time. Nobody seemed to have anything to do outside of enjoying life, and then her stellar people watching stroll ended with the best damn donuts she’d ever eaten. Clutching the white crinkled up bag, Rey could admit that she hadn't truly seen anything particularly mesmerizing, but she glowed all the same. Feeling almost drunk on the beach, the mountains in the distance, and the far greater distance away from her parents.

 

Strolling up to the parked limousine, Rey then rapped her knuckle against the driver side window. She waited until the window rolled down all the way before tossing in the bag with its four miraculously saved donuts.  

 

“You give good advice.”

 

Grinning up at her, the driver popped a crispy pastry into his mouth. “On the off chance a pretty girl brings me treats - hell yeah I do.”

 

_ Lord, he’s got dimples. _

 

Climbing over leather, Rey called out, “Where to next?”

 

“You know your parents pay me by the hour.”

 

“Yep.” Pulling her wind wrecked hair up into a sloppy ponytail, Rey smiled mischievously. “So where to next?”

 

“How do you feel about surprises?”

 

“Coming from strange men I’ve never met before? Pretty good.” 

  
The driver laughed.


	2. Chapter 2

_Okay..._

 

As the car pulled up beside a curb, Rey’s face scrunched up in confusion. She wasn’t exactly sure what she was meant to be gawking over. They were miles from the beach, they were nowhere near any famous sidewalks with star names on top, and the residential street contained a grand total of zero remarkable landmarks. Without so much as a palm tree in sight, the only thing that proved they'd stayed in Los Angeles were the overlapping parking signs outside the door.

 

Tilting her head up, Rey read out, “Two-hour parking from eight a.m. to six p.m. No parking from four p.m. to seven p.m. No parking on Wednesdays from eight a.m. to ten a.m. and no parking from eight p.m. to six a.m. at all times without a street permit.”

 

After the mental gymnastics, Rey massaged her temple. “How in the heck do you keep from getting a ticket?”

 

“I hear that having a driver helps,” the chauffeur deadpanned.

 

The second that she remembered their situation, Rey’s expression fell. “Ah," she swallowed hard. "So being rich helps keep you out of debt.”

 

“That’s what they say.”

 

Rey sucked in a breath.

 

“You must think I’m such a pampered ass.”

 

“Of course not,” the chauffeur evenly responded. “You’re using my services. How in the world could I possibly fault you for keeping me employed?”

 

“Good point,” Rey conceded, sliding on her sunglasses as her voice perked up again. ”So where do I go now?”

 

“Walk a block before turning right. After you’re done enjoying yourself there, you go down another block before turning left. Walk around all the outside exhibitions, and then when you want something truly special you cross the street. Go down another block to the left until you check out the wall.”

 

Rey laughed. “That’s quite vague.”.

 

“Yes quite,” the handsome stranger replied, squeezing the wheel. “And Rey?”

 

“Yes?”

 

 As their gazes met again in the mirror, his lips quirked up into a slow, wicked smile.

 

“Pleasure to be of service.”

_________________________

For exactly zero dollars, Rey spent over an hour geeking out over tar pits in the middle of a metropolis. She freaked out over prehistoric saber tooth cat bones in a museum before broadly grinning over a display of stunning street lights outside of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It was art you were meant to hold, touch, and admire; and Rey did all three before she left.  But nothing compared to how floored she felt once she came upon ten segments of some of the most famous slabs of concrete in the world.

 

The second the back door flew open again, Rey shouted, “You took me to the Berlin Wall!”

 

“I did,” the driver chuckled. Looking up from his phone, he flashed the slyest of smirks. “Thought you might feel a particular kinship for others who suffered under an unjust rule.”

 

Rey’s giggles bubbled right up to the ceiling as she sunk down into her seat. “Ooooh, Mimi would just love being likened to the Communists.”

 

“Seems right up your mom’s alley.”

 

“Oh, we must never call her mom!” Rey scoffed, eyes rolling as she explained in her crispest voice, “When I was little she forbid the word because it makes her sound too old. And that’s why whenever I can tell she’s attracted to somebody, I’ll lay it on thick and call her _mother_.”

 

“Oooh, fierce.”

 

Preparing to leave, the driver slid his short black leather driving gloves on. After the mirror was adjusted and belt buckled, he straightened his tie to perfection. No wrinkle spared before turning on the engine. Each movement was executed with a fluid precision that made an amped up Rey look like his polar opposite in the backseat. But she couldn’t help it. After her excursion, her legs excitedly bounced against the seat, and her fingers shook while fumbling around with her seatbelt. “Like, why is the longest stretch of the Berlin Wall outside of Germany even here? And then why is it covered in comic style graffiti?”

 

“Can you think of someplace that has better graffiti?”

 

“Definitely not Palestine.”

 

It wasn’t easy for the driver to hide his cringe after that mangled pronunciation left the word sounding like pal-ass-teen. “You’ve been to The Middle East?”

 

“No,” Rey corrected with an awkward laugh. “I, uh, actually meant my mom’s hometown of Palestine, Texas. I split my childhood between there and Birmingham.”

 

“Ah.”

 

Getting ahead of an embarrassed silence, Rey blurted out, “The La Brea Tar pits were pretty unique too- and also something we did not have in Palestine.”   

 

The corner of the driver’s lips twitched. “I don’t know if you’re doing the best job of selling that city.”

 

“Good thing I’m not working in the visitor center,” Rey quipped, her already racing heart tripling in beats as they flirted dangerously close to flirting.

 

“Did you enjoy all the stories about prehistoric creatures trapped in the tar?”

 

“I did!” Rey's eyes widened to damn near starry. ”Full confession," she gushed, "I had no idea that dire wolves actually lived outside of Game of Thrones. Turns out they did, and loads died here! So after that little fact nugget blew my mind, I moseyed on over to the art museum with all the lights outside- and I might have pranced around."

 

“As you do.” he smiled.

 

“After that, I ended up getting some tasty Mexican corn in a cup off of a street vendor. Then I checked out more of the art installations. Good lord, there were a ton of people hanging around outside the exhibitions, but it still felt strangely calming.”

 

“I can see that,” the driver admitted. One last lingering look rested on the jubilant girl before the car smoothly steered back onto the street. His professionalism seemingly back in place as he nonchalantly said, “Did you also happen to pick up on the fact that since the word _la brea_ means tar pits in Spanish, The La Brea Tar Pits actually means The The Tar Pit Tar Pits?”

 

Pressing her cheeks into her palms, Rey lost it.

___________________________

 

Without even realizing that her pen tapped steadily against her notebook, Rey quietly surveyed the rolling hills in the distance. Taking in as much of the lively city as possible, breathing in the quirks. Missing nothing while silently praying for a little inspiration to hit. Of course nobody could deny that the city gave good visuals, but unfortunately, not a single lyric matched the song crystallizing on the page.

 

“Nobody smiles here,” she grumbled.

 

“What do you mean?” the driver asked, his mouth curving up in an invitation for Rey to go on.

 

“I mean that whenever I smile here, people look at me like I'm fixin' to mug them.”

 

“People smile in LA,” he assured her, his dark eyes twinkling with mirth as he made a turn. ”But they just save it for their commercials.”

 

When their gazes met again in the mirror, Rey forced herself to look away. Bantering with a face like that seemed unfair when a partition still separated them. The driver was too attractive for her own good, and a twinge tightened in Rey's chest.

 

As the city of countless unfulfilled dreams passed by Rey, she was suddenly hit with her own harsh wake-up. The driver wasn't a friend. They weren’t anything. They went back to nothing at the end of the day, and the girl made up her mind to give them some space before she came off looking further like a fool. Directing her praise back to the scenery outside, she attempted to push down any growing fondness for the man up front.

 

_It’s not like I need to overthink this._

 

_Any added charm on his part is probably just for the tip._

 

It would have been grand if Rey could have accepted her own thoughts, but her excuses rang hollow when she thought about how effortlessly they got along. Something between them felt comfortable, natural. He wasn’t like the eager pretty-boy freshmen who pressed up against her in party hallways, he didn’t ask about her father’s famous speeches, and he could probably care less about her backyard being once featured in Southern Living magazine.

 

If it were only an ordinary day, she’d say that they clicked, but the sand on the backseat meant the day was anything other than ordinary. No, this day was one of the most pleasant days she’d experienced in a long time, and her heart twinged again.

 

Stubbornly refusing to obsess over him again like a lovesick tween, Rey adjusted her affections to remaining fixed on the sunshine outside. Keeping things uncomplicated. Reminding herself that vacations end as palm trees passed by, and all the while shielding herself from disappointment with an excuse that sounded half-hearted even in her thoughts.

 

_It's just an afternoon that your dad paid for_

 

______________________

 

Something about driving along the historic Pacific Coast Highway surged up more creative juices inside Rey. Scribbling away in the back of the limousine, she couldn’t stop solidifying her new song. Without even trying to, she pulled influence left and right from the miles of beaches, the soulless modern houses, and that same famous sunshine that had inspired everyone from the Doors to Guns n Roses to Tupac.

 

_A golden trio if I've ever heard of one._

 

Smearing at a blot of ink on her finger, Rey smiled as waves of accomplishment rolled over her. Feeling relaxed, and something near happy again, even as she caught herself staring again at the driver’s profile.

 

_Why are you doing that again?_

 

_You know how this ends._

 

Despite their earlier easy banter, Rey wasn’t normally so responsive to male strangers. Woefully out of practice with any small talk that didn’t occur while shaking hands in church, Rey generally quieted around men she found attractive. It wasn’t that she was shy, but she knew better than to speak too much too soon. Clamming up had always served as a saving grace from plunging her shoes past her lips, and she'd learned that lesson real quick.

 

After years of witnessing her opinions leading to frowning in her strict home, Rey was cautious about how much she gave away of herself. In her home, only football and the weather as it pertained to football were suitable dinnertime topics anyway, and that’s how you kept the peace. Nobody waxed poetic about clouds, or beauty, and politics were avoided at all costs lest somebody out themselves as a “free thinker” over biscuits. Yes, silence usually did her body good, and so Rey rather appreciated that for an hour they drove without chatter.

 

A boy, a girl, and some smog were more than enough for her that day.

 

The sunshine streaking over the Santa Monica mountains only to dip into the ocean was better than any discussion anyway. That was something worth a moment of silence. Nature that pure simply couldn’t be improved upon by anything one could say, and so Rey refused to risk ruining the moment.

 

The next time the limousine stopped at a light, Rey slid her fingertip down the window. Tracing over the outline of a surfer outside, she kept a piece of the experience with her for a full two minutes before it faded away. Nothing left but her own reflection blurring by as she thought about going back home.    

 

_That’s not today though._

 

_No use ruining this view._

 

Determined not to allow family issues to bleed out over a good day, Rey’s attention fixed back on the lovely horizon again. Laying down her pen, she gloried over the tufts of pink edging into blooms of orange. Taking all that West Coast beauty in, and all the while regretting that the song bouncing around inside of her head sounded too much like a love song: a topic that she knew absolutely nothing about.

 

Yes, sadly high school love had passed Rey by without so much as a ripple across her skin. Being watched like a hawk didn’t help with dating, and her few prospects in town always ended up either too intimidated to ask out the preacher’s daughter or too goody- goody to get her motor going. By nineteen, she’d barely done more than stealing a few kisses and soft touches at church lock-ins.

 

Unfortunately, the first year in college hadn’t been much help. While other girls at her school could easily let loose at parties, Rey had a harder time shaking off her inherent resistance to opening up to strangers. Friends would dance around drunk while she’d remain against the wall. Bopping her head to the music, and never quite trusting when others showed interest back. And even when a rare guy did actually approach it turned out that hesitance wasn’t a huge turn on. Always misreading her anxious expression, the guy’s step would falter before he’d eventually turn away to find something a little less complicated. Leaving the girl to return right back to reading the spines of books at parties while she internally panicked over what might happen with a guy who followed through.

 

‘Cause Lord knows that she wouldn’t know where to go next.

 

No, love isn’t something you read about and then sing your heart out over. You have to nurture adoration underneath your own rib cage. To let it breathe there with you in order to know it intimately. You have to own it at least once before selling it, and so Rey frowned.

 

Her pen setting down while she took in all the sun-drenched scenery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed part 2 of 3. Sorry that it took me forever ever to update, but I'd love to know what you thought about it since fluffier softer fics are not my natural habitat.
> 
> <3 Bun


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